KARACHI: Auto assemblers continued to face a highly disturbing situation as year-on-year car sales plunged 53 per cent, trucks 48pc, buses 45pc, light commercial vehicles, pickups and vans 37pc, and two/three-wheelers recorded a 13pc drop during the first five months of FY24.

However, brisk agricultural indicators significantly boosted the sales of tractors (Massey Ferguson and Fiat) by 98.19pc to 20,806 units during 5MFY24 from 10,498 in the same period last year.

With a slight rise in month-on-month (MoM) car sales to 4,875 in November from 4,850 in October, the 5MFY24 sales plunged to 25,746 units from 55,132 units in the same period last year.

According to the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers (PAMA) data, the combined sales of Honda Civic/City nosedived to 3,151 units in 5MFY24 from 7,925 in the same period last year despite a rise in November to 912 units from 379 in October.

Demand for tractors almost doubles during July-Nov

Suzuki Swift sales fell by 68pc to 1,852 from 5,708 during 5MFY23, while the cumulative sales of Toyota Corolla and Yaris shrank to 4,725 units from 10,186, down by 54pc.

Hyundai Elantra and Sonata also suffered sales fall to 426 and 402 units from 1,137 and 504 units.

With nil production in November, Suzuki WagonR sales came down to 1,420 units in the last five months from 2,897 units. Suzuki Cultus sales declined to 1,611 from 4,086 amid zero production in July.

Sales of Suzuki Bolan and Alto660cc stood at 853 and 11,306 units in 5MFY24 as compared to 1,972 and 20,716 units in the same period last fiscal, down by 57pc and 47pc, respectively.

Muhammad Tahir at Sherman Research was of the view that a paltry rise in November car sales from October was due to assemblers’ efforts to improve sales through various discount offers, instalment payments and after-sales service packages.

A total of 1,789 units of Toyota Fortuner, Revo, and Hilux were sold in the last five months as compared to 5,298, showing a drop of 66pc.

Hyundai Nishat Limited fared relatively well with sales of its variants such as Hyundai Tucson and Porter reaching 1,558 and 690 units, respectively, compared to 1,877 and 506 units during 5MF23. Sales of the newly launched Hyundai Santa Fe during September stood at 298 units.

With zero production in October and a rollout of only two units in November, Honda BR-V and HR-V sales reached 833 units from 1,099 during 5MFY23.

Sazgar Haval gave a robust performance in troubled times, with sales of 1,233 units versus 416 units, up by 196pc.

Decades-old Suzuki Ravi sales stood at 1,233 units as against 1,650, thus proving quite satisfactory for Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited (PSMCL) compared to disastrous sales of other Suzuki vehicles.

A total of 736 units of trucks of PAMA members were sold as against 1,405 units, while bus sales plunged to 141 from 256 units.

In total, 459,459 sales of two/three-wheelers in July-Nov FY24, compared to 523,936 units, with sales of Honda bikes standing 9pc lower at 398,303 units, down from 437,708 units.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2023